That Butler, New Face

That Butler, Tidying Up

{Phantomhive Manor...}

Chêne yawned, covering her mouth, while she ate breakfast with Mei-Rin, Finni, Bard, Mister Tanaka, and Snake. Most of Snake's snakes were out hunting.

"You okay?" Bard asked. "You've been yawning a lot lately."

"I'll be fine," Chêne said. "Fatigue is common with my 'condition'... Is Lacey still not up yet?"

'Even first thing in the morning?' Bard wondered. "Doesn't look like it," he answered.

"She's a deep sleeper, she is," Mei-Rin remarked.

"Actually, she's a light sleeper who pretends to be a deep sleeper so people will leave her alone," Chêne said. She sighed. "I'll get her up."

"I-I'll get her!" Mei-Rin said. "You should finish eating, you should!"

"Thanks, Mei-Rin," Chêne said gratefully. "Just yell at her from the doorway, that's safest."

"Safest?" Finni asked.

"Sometimes she takes a swing at the person waking her up," Chêne explained.

"I'll keep that in mind, I will," Mei-Rin said, sweat-dropping.

=†=†=†=†=†=

{Weston College...}

'Weston College, a distinguished public school attended by sons of aristocrats from all over Great Britain. And it is into this house of learning, where tradition and discipline reign... that I've stolen in order to investigate a certain matter,' Ciel thought as he move among the other students outside. He pretended to be reading, but he was looking at a picture of the boy he had come to find. 'The issue is this—beginning with Derrick, son of Duke Clemens, cousin to Her Majesty, the Queen... a number of students have failed to return home to their families for quite some time. Weston College is an insular institution with which even the government can't interfere. What exactly is going on behind its guarded walls?' Ciel stopped himself. "Oh, darn!" he said, paused with is foot hovering above the grass. He stepped back. " 'Only the four prefects are allowed to cross the lawn'... was how the rule went, didn't it?" Ciel walked the long way around with the other students.

=†=†=†=†=†=

"I still don't see why we have to get up so early," Lacey said as she was dusting a chandelier, while Chêne held the ladder for her. "Ciel and Sebastian aren't here. When the cat's away, the mice will play~"

"Sebastian will know if we slack off," Chêne said. "Even if we clean everything up so there isn't a speck of dust at the last minute, he'll know."

"You make him sound like your mom," Lacey said, laughing a little bit.

"He's stricter," Chêne replied.

"Oh, is that what you like?" Lacey asked slyly. "A strict man who will scold you?"

"If I liked being scolded, I wouldn't be making you do this job properly, would I? You missed a spot, by the way," Chêne retorted with a straight face, too tired to react to her friend's teasing. "Ugh. Who knew making people could be so exhausting..."

"If you need a break, just say so," Lacey said.

"You're not getting out of work that easily," Chêne told her. She sighed. "I wonder how Ciel is doing? I'm pretty sure this is his first time at a real school."

=†=†=†=†=†=

{West College, Headmaster's Office...}

Ciel stood in the large room, which had a high stained glass window behind the headmaster's desk, and a huge swinging pendulum, like a clock's, connected to a series of gears on the ceiling. The window was framed by an organ on both sides. The four prefects also stood off to the sides.